The first weekend sales figures for the new iPad have been announced and they’re impressive – 3 million units sold. By comparison, the first iPad sold 450,000 units after 5 days and didn’t reach the 1 million mark until its 30th day. As for the iPad 2, while Apple didn’t release initial launch figures, it’s believed that over 1 million were sold in its first 3 days.

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

The new iPad was launched on March 16th in 10 countries, and will be available in 24 more on March 23rd, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain. You can check out the full press release after the break.